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August 03, 2012

Because it's Friday: From the formless void

Ars Technica is always an amazing source of in-depth science and technology reporting, and this article on the formation of supermassive black holes is no exception. But it was this simulation of galaxy formation (by Jillian Bellovary and Fabio Governato) really took my breath away:

This is one of those examples where science is, quite literally, awesome. I'm in awe of how a simulation can start with a formless void of dust, create chaos, and then settle into a beautiful spinning galaxy. Given enough time and processing power, from a few simple rules — mostly just gravity and angular momentum — an entire universe emerges. Wow.